Indianapolis is a flat, orderly, surprisingly walkable Midwestern state capital of about 880,000 people that hosts the largest single-day spectator sporting event in the world. It was laid out in 1821 on a grid around a central circle, and that circle now holds a 284-foot limestone monument to the state's war dead, which is the hero image and the thing the whole downtown orients itself around.
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What Is Here
THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY IS WHY MOST PEOPLE HAVE HEARD OF THE CITY, AND IT IS ABSENT FROM OUR PHOTOGRAPHS ENTIRELY, which we would rather say than imply a set we do not hold. The track opened in 1909, is two and a half miles of oval, and holds roughly 250,000 permanent seats, the largest sports venue on the planet. THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 RUNS ON THE SUNDAY OF MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND, in late May, and draws about 300,000 people. Outside race weeks the site is open and cheap: the IMS MUSEUM, which reopened after a major renovation, plus KISS THE BRICKS and track laps in a bus or a two-seat race car as separately priced add-ons. THE BRICKYARD 400 and an IndyCar road course race fill other weekends, and in May the whole month is practice, qualifying and parades.
IF YOU COME FOR THE 500, UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE ARRIVING INTO. Hotel prices multiply and book out months ahead across the whole metro area, the surrounding streets become a vast informal party, and the infield's Snake Pit is a very specific environment. It is an extraordinary day and it is not a quiet weekend in a Midwestern city.
THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MONUMENT IS FREE AND YOU CAN GO UP IT. Completed in 1901, it stands in the middle of Monument Circle, and INDIANAPOLIS HAS MORE ACREAGE OF WAR MEMORIALS THAN ANY AMERICAN CITY EXCEPT WASHINGTON DC, which is the city's least-known distinction. There is a Civil War museum in the base, free, and an observation deck at the top reached by 331 steps or a small elevator for a few dollars. THE CIRCLE IS THE BEST PLACE IN THE CITY TO SIT, and in December the monument is strung with lights as the Circle of Lights.
THE INDIANA STATEHOUSE IS THE SECOND IMAGE AND TOURS ARE FREE. An 1888 limestone building with a stained glass rotunda dome, open weekdays with guided tours booked ahead and self-guided walking otherwise.
THE CANAL WALK AND WHITE RIVER STATE PARK ARE THE THIRD IMAGE AND HOLD MOST OF THE MUSEUMS. A three-mile loop along a restored 1830s canal, with the EITELJORG MUSEUM of American Indian and Western art, the Indiana State Museum, the NCAA Hall of Champions, the zoo and the White River Gardens along it. Pedal boats in summer.
THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM OF INDIANAPOLIS IS THE LARGEST IN THE WORLD and is a serious museum rather than a play barn, and NEWFIELDS, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, sits in 152 acres with The Virginia B Fairbanks Art and Nature Park, which is free to walk.
THE INDIANAPOLIS CULTURAL TRAIL IS THE BEST PIECE OF URBAN DESIGN IN THE CITY, eight miles of separated, landscaped walking and cycling path connecting six downtown districts: Mass Ave for bars and theatre, Fountain Square for records and duckpin bowling, the Wholesale District, Indiana Avenue with its jazz history, Broad Ripple further north. BOTTLEWORKS, a restored Coca-Cola bottling plant on Mass Ave, is now a food hall and hotel.
When to Go
MAY to OCTOBER. Late spring and early autumn are the best of it: warm, green, long evenings, everything open.
MAY IS THE 500 AND THAT DECIDES EVERYTHING. If you want the race, come in May and book early. If you want a quiet city, do not come in late May.
SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER are the sweet spot, with the canal and the Nature Park in colour and reasonable hotel prices.
SUMMER is hot and humid, with 90F afternoons, high humidity and thunderstorms, but nothing like the Gulf.
WINTER IS COLD AND GENUINELY SNOWY and the city keeps working through it. January averages hover around freezing with lows well below, and lake-moisture systems and Ohio Valley storms bring real snow and ICE STORMS, which are the harder hazard. Downtown's skywalks and the museums make a good cold-weather itinerary.
Getting There
INDIANAPOLIS INTERNATIONAL, IND, is about eight miles south west, is consistently rated one of the best airports in the country, and is twenty minutes from downtown. THE IndyGo ROUTE 8 BUS RUNS FROM THE AIRPORT TO DOWNTOWN FOR A COUPLE OF DOLLARS, which most visitors do not know.
By car, Indianapolis is the CROSSROADS OF AMERICA by state motto and by fact: more interstates converge here than anywhere else in the country, with I-65, I-69, I-70 and I-74 all meeting and I-465 looping the city. Chicago is three hours, Cincinnati two, Louisville two, St Louis four, Detroit four.
There is no useful passenger rail. Amtrak's Cardinal calls three times a week in the middle of the night.
You do not need a car downtown and you will want one for anything else. The Cultural Trail, Monument Circle, the canal and Mass Ave are all walkable, and the Red Line bus rapid transit runs north to Broad Ripple. The Speedway and Newfields are a drive or a rideshare.
Is Indianapolis Safe for Women?
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in the United States and no country-level warning. Its guidance concentrates on the practical differences a British visitor meets: entry requirements and ESTA, the cost of healthcare without insurance, extreme weather including hurricanes on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts between June and November, and wildfires, which the FCDO describes as a danger in many dry areas, particularly in canyons, hills and forests.
Indianapolis has a violent crime rate above the American average and, as in every large American city, it is concentrated in specific residential neighbourhoods rather than in the places visitors go. Downtown, Mass Ave, Fountain Square, the canal, Broad Ripple and the Cultural Trail corridor are all comfortable, and a woman walking any of them by day is unremarkable. Downtown is busy in the evening when there is a game or a show and quiet when there is not, which is the main thing to notice: the Wholesale District can empty quickly on a weeknight.
BROAD RIPPLE'S BAR STRIP IS THE ONE SPECIFIC. It is the city's main late-night drinking district and has the usual late-weekend problems of one; it is fine, and a rideshare home rather than a walk through side streets after midnight is the sensible call.
INDIANA IS INSIDE THE SEVERE WEATHER BELT AND TORNADOES ARE A REAL SEASONAL HAZARD. Peak season is April to June with a secondary autumn peak, bringing large hail, damaging straight-line winds and tornado warnings, usually late in the day. ENABLE EMERGENCY ALERTS ON YOUR PHONE, and know that a TORNADO WARNING means go now to an interior room on the lowest floor away from windows. Hotels have a designated shelter area; ask at check-in.
WINTER ICE IS THE COMMONEST CAUSE OF INJURY HERE. Freezing rain glazes the brick sidewalks around the Circle and the canal towpath, and black ice on untreated side streets is routine from December to March.
SUMMER HEAT AND HUMIDITY combine into heat advisories several times a season, and the canal and the Cultural Trail have long unshaded stretches.
RACE WEEKEND IS ITS OWN SET OF CONDITIONS, meaning very large crowds, heavy drinking, long walks in and out, and a sun that will burn you across six hours of grandstand with no shade. Sun protection and water matter more than anything else on that day.
INDIANA ALLOWS PERMITLESS CARRY, so lawfully carried handguns are common and prohibition signage is posted on many buildings.
The Indianapolis Packing List
Four real seasons, a continental swing of about 60F between January and July, heavy air conditioning in summer and ice underfoot in winter.
Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron, and a long sleeve merino wool base layer for women is the single most useful garment in a continental climate like this one, because it is the layer that works in both directions: under a coat in a Midwestern February, and on its own in humid August when the problem is a cooled museum rather than the street. From November to March add a heavyweight merino base layer, a merino beanie and merino glove liners, because Indiana wind across a flat grid is colder than the number suggests.
A Columbia Fast Trek II fleece for spring and autumn evenings and a Marmot PreCip Eco rain jacket for the storm season.
Shoes with real grip for the eight miles of Cultural Trail, brick sidewalks and winter ice.
Not linked and worth packing: SUNSCREEN AND A WIDE BRIM HAT IF YOU ARE GOING TO THE RACE, because six hours of unshaded grandstand in late May is the most likely way to get hurt all weekend, and our registry's hat entries are covered above only on the sun-focused posts; EAR PROTECTION FOR THE SPEEDWAY, which is louder than people expect and for which the registry holds nothing; EMERGENCY ALERTS ENABLED for storm season; AND TRACTION DEVICES ARE OVERKILL for a city visit, so good tread is enough. The US is almost entirely card-based with tipping at 18 to 20 per cent.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
Essential Resources for Women in Indianapolis
Emergency numbers: 911 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile. Calls are answered locally and dispatchers will stay on the line. For non-urgent police matters many cities also run a 311 information line.
THE INDIANAPOLIS 500 RUNS ON THE SUNDAY OF MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND and draws about 300,000 people, so hotel prices multiply and the whole metro books out months ahead; outside race weeks the Speedway is cheap to visit, with the IMS Museum, Kiss the Bricks and track laps priced separately. THE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS MONUMENT IS FREE, including the Civil War museum in its base, with a small charge for the observation deck, reached by 331 steps or a small elevator; Indianapolis has more war memorial acreage than any American city except Washington DC. INDIANA STATEHOUSE TOURS ARE FREE on weekdays and are best booked ahead. INDIANA IS IN THE SEVERE WEATHER BELT: tornadoes, large hail and damaging winds peak April to June with an autumn secondary season, so ENABLE EMERGENCY ALERTS, ASK AT CHECK-IN WHERE THE SHELTER AREA IS, and treat a TORNADO WARNING as an instruction to move to an interior room on the lowest floor immediately. WINTER ICE AND FREEZING RAIN are the commonest cause of injury, glazing the brick around Monument Circle and the canal towpath from December to March. SUMMER BRINGS HEAT ADVISORIES and the canal and Cultural Trail have long unshaded stretches. THE IndyGo ROUTE 8 BUS RUNS FROM THE AIRPORT TO DOWNTOWN for a couple of dollars. THE CULTURAL TRAIL IS EIGHT MILES of separated path linking six downtown districts. BROAD RIPPLE is the late-night bar strip and a rideshare home beats a walk after midnight. Indiana allows permitless carry and prohibition signage is common.
US State Department travel advisory: there is none, and this is not an omission. The State Department issues travel advisories for other countries, not for the United States itself, so no US advisory for this destination exists to link. In its place, the Government of Canada advice for the United States gives an equivalent third-country assessment.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/usa, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits. The FCDO names no advised-against areas anywhere in the United States. The same advice also covers Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands.
Main hospital: Eskenazi Health and IU Health Methodist Hospital, both just north west of downtown, are the city's Level I trauma centres with 24 hour emergency departments, and Riley Hospital for Children is beside them. Dial 911 for police, ambulance or fire, and note that TORNADO AND WINTER STORM WARNINGS come from the National Weather Service forecast office rather than 911, which is for emergencies in progress. This is the single biggest practical difference for a visitor: there is no public health system, an emergency room visit without insurance can run into thousands of dollars, and an ambulance is billed separately and is not free. Comprehensive travel insurance with a high medical limit is not optional in the United States, and you should carry your policy number and the insurer's 24 hour number somewhere you can reach them. Urgent care clinics handle anything short of an emergency far more cheaply and quickly than an emergency room, and are the right choice for a sprain, an infection or stitches.
Official health authority: the CDC travellers' health pages, the US federal health authority for visitors, covers the US public health guidance, with the National Weather Service the authority for tornado warnings, winter storm warnings and heat advisories
Embassy contact: the United States is the host country, so there is no US embassy to contact. Your own country's embassy is in Washington DC, with consulates in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco, Miami and Boston. Find yours before you travel and save the number.
Official tourism authority: Brand USA, the national tourism marketing body, covers Indianapolis and Indiana visitor information, with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway the authority for race dates, track tour availability and museum hours
Takeaways
The 500 is the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. Book months ahead or come another month.
The monument is free and you can go up it.
Walk the Cultural Trail. It is the best thing the city built.
Storm season needs alerts on your phone. Winter needs tread on your shoes.
Solo women safety assessment: Indianapolis is an easy city to visit alone and unusually so for a flat Midwestern grid, because the Cultural Trail gives a solo walker eight miles of separated, lit, landscaped path connecting almost everywhere she would want to go, which removes most of the awkwardness of navigating an unfamiliar American downtown on foot. Monument Circle, Mass Ave, Fountain Square, the canal and Broad Ripple are all ordinary places to be a woman on her own by day. The city's violent crime rate is above the American average and is concentrated in particular residential neighbourhoods a visitor has no reason to enter; the thing actually worth noticing is that the Wholesale District empties fast on a weeknight with no game or show on, so downtown can feel quiet rather than unsafe, and Broad Ripple's bar strip has the usual late-weekend problems of a drinking district, where a rideshare beats a walk through side streets after midnight. 911 REACHES POLICE, AMBULANCE AND FIRE, and Eskenazi Health and IU Health Methodist are the Level I trauma centres a few minutes from downtown. THE TWO HONEST RISKS ARE BOTH WEATHER. Indiana sits inside the severe weather belt, so from April to June and again in autumn there are tornado warnings, large hail and damaging winds, usually late in the day: enable emergency alerts, ask where your hotel's shelter area is, and understand that a warning means moving now rather than looking out of the window. And from December to March freezing rain glazes the brick sidewalks around the Circle and the canal path, which is the likeliest way to get hurt here in any season.
Reading On
Indianapolis is the crossroads of the Midwest by road and the library covers most of what the interstates reach: the Chicago packing list is three hours north west and is the regional heavyweight, the Cincinnati packing list two hours south east on the Ohio, the Louisville packing list two hours south and the closest city in character, and the Detroit packing list four hours north. Further out, the Cleveland packing list and the Milwaukee packing list cover the other Great Lakes industrial cities, and the Nashville packing list is five hours south. For the country, the United States travel guide for women carries the transport, the health insurance question and the regions in full. For why one wool layer covers both a Midwestern February and a cooled museum in August, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
